Craig Elliott

[Snoopyloopy24]

Hi all,
Buxton fc supporter here, what shall we expect from Craig Elliott? Always seemed highly rated on paper but what was his tactics and style of play like at Boston?

[noughtyforties]

He's at the highest level he'll manage at. And at Boston Utd the biggest club he'll manage with all due respect to you.

Always finds a way to lose the important games though.

Spends too much time bigging up opponents and not enough time concentrating on his own sides strengths, of which there were many.

Having said that he's a good bloke and he'll make sure Buxton are competitive, he builds good teams but Richard his assistant is the key.

I wish him well, like a lot of coaches he went stale here and a poor run last December did for him. Not that he should be blamed solely, the team absolutely downed tools towards the end as confirmed by comments from players after his departure.

[Pete Brooksbank]

Solid manager. Of gaffers who've managed 100+ games, his win rate is comfortably in the top half and well ahead of supposed 'legends' like Arthur Mann, Howard Wilkinson and a certain Scottish manager who we don't call by name around these parts. Let down by two GK howlers in his two biggest games - outrageously unlucky in that regard.

Dip in form last season plus a few fans inexplicably wanting him to be swapped with Curtis effing Woodhouse saw the chairman pull the trigger - far too prematurely in a lot of people's opinion. The fact we've been absolute dogshit ever since - two stunning away wins in the play-offs aside - tells its own story.

As for the style of play - actually that one can be quite hard to pin down. In fact I'd say his lack of a real identity is probably his biggest weakness.

[Dipdodah]

Top man, in my opinion the best manager we have had in recent years.  Pete is right, was let down by two goal keeping howlers in two of the most important matches of his tenure.  Hounded out by a minority of fans.  His main fault was trying to protect a 1-0 lead instead of putting the game to bed.

He will be a great ambassador for your club.  Good luck for the future, except against us of course

[Pete Brooksbank]

He wasn't perfect but he was able to learn from his mistakes - that terrible summer of recruitment with the ex-Lincoln lads wasn't repeated. That being said, constant player turnover was also an issue, plus after Crook's errors he never really seemed to get the goalkeeping situation under control.

Sacking him was a huge error: the win rate after he left barely improved and has since nosedived, although Cully is fighting to fix the stupidity of the Paul Cox experiment.

[Cousin Jack]

     Craig is a fine manager and I wish he were still at Boston (that's not to diss our current management team, just means that the awful Paul Cox era would not have happened). CE sacking seemed a rare error by our chairman whose judgement is usually spot on.
      What will Buxton get from CE?  Honesty, good communication with supporters, will make mistakes but will learn from them. Tactically conservative (perhaps too much so?). All round good bloke.
     

[Fishtoft Crew]

A genuine guy who got us the squad to get to the playoffs, yes Cox had the last run but was Craig’s squad. Perhaps was too respectfully nice  to opponents but that’s not a negative for me, engaged with the fans and on a one to one basis. His win rate was bang on however he was perhaps conservative.  Will always be welcome for a beer with most of my BUFC fans.  Hope he succeeds with you. 

[Uncertain Corridor]

I agree with all the positive comments above. He is a great guy and I was genuinely sorry to see him go. He will build you a good squad and we were usually in and around the play offs. This was not enough for some fans who turned on him. My only constructive comment would be that he sometimes would not be brave in his substitutions to change a game when it was needed and stayed loyal to the team on the pitch. Time will tell if he good enough to manage at an even higher level but he is humble enough to recognise that he is still learning. The very best of luck to Craig. I hope he succeeds at Buxton…

[Snoopyloopy24]

Turns out you Boston fans were right about him and Matlock wasn't! Easily one of the best managers we've had at Buxton and the impact he's had has been incredible in such a short time. And well played today! Was a hard fought game with an awful ref

[Cousin Jack]

   Pleased that his appointment is working out well Snoopy. Would love to see CE & RB grab a late play-off spot too, but its looking
    a long longshot now. Good luck for next season.

[lonegunman]

Nice bloke and gave it a good go at Boston. Was undermined by a few so called fans for negative tactics, and no doubt a few players also. I was very disappointed he was moved on, the next one in was absolutely useless and if he had stayed we would have definitely been relegated. I did wonder if cully and bazza would be able to keep us in this league,  but fingers crossed we will survive.
Good luck to Buxton and good luck to CE.